Vile River Nile Jokes?

I was shocked when I saw this story above in my local newspaper, not because of the pun about the famous Nile River in Egypt and the Brisbane River, but because this was the exact spot where I used to fish in as a kid.
No wonder I could never catch a decent fish to be able to take home and eat.
And that was probably a blessing.
According to the news story this part of the river is toxic because coal tar has leached into the river from a former processing plant.
The tar covers a 40 metre area stretching from the shore to the riverbed.
The newspaper story goes on to name the site the processing plant was located at, which was no surprise to me, because that was the corner my Nan lived on, and the plant used to store drums of this stuff on the vacant lot next to my Nan's house.
Which is why that was the spot I used to fish in.
I remember my dad telling me how as a boy he used to swim in that river, and I would just cringe and look at him like "are you nuts?"

We used to climb on the barrels in the vacant lot next door to Nan's and smell the tar smell when the wind blew through the open windows of Nan's house.
Probably a good thing that Nan wasn't a smoker, or that us cheeky kids didn't light fires next door among those drums.
The last time I paid a visit to the street where Nan's house used to be was about a year ago when I wrote this post -
A Crow, Six Snails and an Ant
How time flies and things change.
Last year I was eating snails and now I'm eating a vegetarian/no dairy foods diet.
Plus, last Thursday night I attended a book talk in that house at #42 through a series of what I like to think were cosmic coincidences.
More about all that in another future post.

God, war and weapons of peace

Inside 42 Mollison Street in West End 

Sarah Sentilles walking into #42
last Thursday for her book talk

What's Up at #42?

Nan's old house

That photo above is the only photo I have of my Nan's house, and I remember in the '74 floods that the Brisbane River came within an inch of flooding the upper level of her house and ruining her carpets and flooring.
I remember helping to shovel the river mud out of her backyard and laundry room, and the smell of that mud was vile.  

I must say that I was shocked though when I saw this news story about a singer facing jail for six months for cracking a joke about a river.
Egypt's Sherine sentenced to prison over Nile joke
Some people take life way too seriously, I think.
Evian spelled backwards is naive you know?

Cheers.

UPDATE: 8th March, 2018
You can listen to Sarah's talk from the house by clicking on this link below and going to the Avid Reader podcast site -
Sarah Sentilles 'Draw Your Weapons'